Tag Archives: kurzweil narcissism

We take note of the following blare of trumpets, announcing the Age of Human Immortality, with the support of none other than Google – no stranger to the vanity business:

Those seeking a deep exploration of the ethical and philosophical issues surrounding the human compulsion to muck with absolutely everything, even evolutionary biology, will have to look elsewhere. Can there be anything more culturally toxic than the convergence of the “singularity” with venture capital? For relief from such blather, we turn to Caravaggio and Borges:

LET’S PROLONG THIS MOMENT FOREVER

FOREVER ENTRANCED BY THAT MOST SECRET FORM

RIPPLES ON THE VERGE OF DISSOLVING

The vanity of the likes of Ray Kurzweil and his acolytes in the Church of the Singularity blooms without limit. We urge that Google rent out the Rose Bowl, and assemble therein for a command performance of the Janáček opera, The Makropulos Case:

Ah, but not to worry. Bill Maris elsewhere provides the following assurance:

And the beauty of it is you can always opt out. If you don’t want that extra time, you can always opt out of the system, but I don’t have an interest in opting out of the system, nor do I want the people that I love opting out. It’s not about scary immortality. What if your grandmother didn’t have to die of congestive heart failure or some debilitating stroke where she can’t move half her body? Wouldn’t that be a good thing? I find that generally when I can talk to people about it and take some of the scary unknown away it becomes less intimidating.